Stephen Timms: This statement, which I am also making on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, sets out the plans of our two Departments to work together to recover more of the debt which is owed to the taxpayer.
	For some three years our two Departments have been taking forward a programme of joint working covering a range of areas where, together, we can deliver better service to our customers and better value to the taxpayer than we could if we worked separately. One such area relates to the debts that are owed to both HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) - often by the same individuals. Accordingly, we have been examining:
	ways in which we can recover debts more cost effectively (for customers and Departments) from customers who owe money to both our Departments;
	joint tracing services to locate customers with debts owing to one or both Departments for whom we have no current address; and
	a simpler payment method for customers owing a debt to HMRC and who are in receipt of benefit payments from DWP.
	As part of this programme of work, from the Spring of 2010 HMRC will start to trial the recovery of working tax credit and self-assessment debts through deductions from DWP benefit payments. Participation in the trial will be voluntary. The new service will be offered to people who cannot afford to settle their debts with HMRC in one go and who would prefer to pay them off through a voluntary deduction from their benefits.
	To do this DWP intends to make a regulation under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 to enable DWP to collect HMRC debts. This regulation will be subject to scrutiny by the Social Security Advisory Committee, and both Departments will consult with customer representatives when designing the trial.
	The trial will enable our two Departments to assess the effectiveness of collecting HMRC debts via deductions from DWP benefit payments as well as to test our customers' response to this method of payment. The trial will involve customers who are in receipt of benefit and whose tax credit overpayment or self-assessment debt is less than £1,000. It will offer customers whose tax credit award has ended or who have a self-assessment debt the option of paying back the debt via deductions from benefit payments as an alternative to current HMRC payment methods.
	Both Departments will evaluate the results of the trial before deciding whether to make this a permanent payment option.

Jack Straw: The purpose of this statement is to announce the publication of the results of an audit of home detention custody (HDC) releases from 1 April 2003 to March 2008 who were then subsequently recalled following further charges and convicted. That information is today published and is attached to this statement.
	Context
	Home detention curfew (HDC) came into effect on 28 January 1999. Eligible prisoners primarily serving between three months and less than four years may be released on HDC up to 135 days earlier than they would be otherwise, depending on their sentence length.
	Registered sex offenders and foreign national prisoners who are liable to removal are statutorily excluded. Offenders serving sentences for certain serious violent offences, including prisoners serving sentences for terrorism legislation offences and prisoners with any history of sexual offending are presumed unsuitable unless there are exceptional circumstances.
	Prisoners subject to the release arrangements of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 who are sentenced to four years or more are not statutorily ineligible for release on HDC but are presumed unsuitable.
	Prisoners released on HDC are subject to an electronically monitored curfew to their home, usually for 12 hours a day. Eligible prisoners must pass a risk assessment, which includes an assessment of home circumstances carried out by probation service, before release can be granted.
	Breach of curfew conditions or breach of licence conditions, including alleged further offences or behavioural issues may result in executive recall to prison.
	Previous questions in the House have asked how many offenders released on HDC have been recalled following further offences and what offences have been committed by them. We have recently undertaken a very detailed interrogation of the HDC reoffending data used previously. This has shown that we over-reported the number of offences committed by offenders on the scheme. We have taken the opportunity to revise our procedures for calculating HDC reoffending, correcting the previous errors and introducing an improved method for estimating reoffending by these offenders. Offender Management Statistical Analysis Services has assumed responsibility for collating this data in the future.
	The revised annual reoffending figures for those on HDC from April 2003 to March 2008 are shown in Table 1 below. Table 2 shows the types of offences committed whilst on HDC.
	
		
			 Table 1 Rates of reoffending while on HDC, 2003/04 - 2007/08, England and Wales 
			 Number of offenders 
			 Year Number of offenders on HDC Number of offenders who reoffended while on HDC Reoffending rate (%) 
			 2003-2004 20,802 1,244 6.0 
			 2004-2005 18,587 839 4.5 
			 2005-2006 15,443 688 4.5 
			 2006-2007 12,626 484 3.8 
			 2007-2008 11,316 486 4.3 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2 Reoffences committed while on HDC by offence category, 2003-04—2007-08 England and Wales 
			 Number of offences 
			  2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 
			 Offence Category  
			 Violence against the person 74 47 50 40 60 
			 Sexual Offences 3 2 0 0 1 
			 Burglary 120 82 81 60 54 
			 Robbery 19 19 14 19 7 
			 Theft and handling stolen goods 519 331 282 204 206 
			 Criminal damage 15 21 5 9 4 
			 Drug offences 210 142 108 77 88 
			 Fraud and forgery 103 38 35 30 32 
			 Indictable motoring offences 18 21 9 7 6 
			 Other indictable offences 172 96 62 35 35 
			 Summary motoring offences 658 398 294 172 128 
			 Summary offences excluding motoring 396 336 236 169 199 
			 All offences 2,307 1,533 1,176 822 820 
		
	
	Future Release of Data
	The Ministry of Justice will consult on the publication of data in respect of offenders who breach their licence conditions (including those on home detention curfew) and who are recalled. The statistical publication arising from this consultation will include data on reoffending by offenders subject to this scheme.
	Methodological Note
	Details of offenders starting on HDC are taken from data recorded by the Prison Service. Data on their reoffending is taken from an extract of the police national computer (PNC) held by the Ministry of Justice. Offenders recorded in the prison data who cannot be found on the PNC are excluded from the figures. Like any large-scale recording system the PNC is subject to errors with data entry and recording. The PNC is regularly updated so that further analysis at a later date will generate revised figures.
	The figures relate to offenders starting on home detention curfew in each quarter. An offender is considered to have reoffended if, during their period on HDC, he or she committed an offence that was recorded on the PNC as resulting in a caution or conviction; for the offence to count the caution or conviction has to be given within nine months of the end of the quarter in which the offender started on HDC. Offences resulting in a not guilty verdict or no further action or for which no final outcome is recorded on the PNC are not counted. Breach offences and offences from outside England and Wales are excluded.
	Data on HDC start and end dates are taken from data recorded by the Prison Service. Where no end date has been recorded or where the end date gives an HDC period longer than the maximum of 135 days an estimate of the length of the HDC period has been derived as follows: for offenders recorded as receiving a custodial sentence of 18 months or longer the HDC period has been set to 135 days; for sentences of less than 18 months the HDC period has been calculated as 1/4 of the sentence length.

Harriet Harman: On 25 June the House endorsed a package of changes to the Parliamentary pension scheme, backdated to 1 April 2009, consisting of:
	(1) an increase in member contribution rates
	(a) from 10 to 11.9 per cent. for a pension building up at an accrual rate of 1/40th of final salary for each year of service,
	(b) from 6 to 7.9 per cent. for a pension building up at an accrual rate of 1/50th, and
	(c) from 5.5 to 5.9 per cent. for a pension building up at an accrual rate of 1/60th.
	(2) the application of the scheme's maximum pension limit of two thirds of final salary to all scheme members for future service.
	The rise in member contribution rates will mean an increase in the net (after tax relief) monthly contribution made by most MPs of approximately £62. Because the increase will be backdated to 1 April, arrears will be payable when the changes are implemented by the Trustees.
	This package is judged by the Government Actuary to produce savings of 2.9 per cent. of payroll. The House also called on me to bring forward further proposals which will make additional savings of 1.9 per cent. of payroll, so that the Exchequer contribution to the scheme for 2009-10 will be capped at its 2008-09 level. I plan to put proposals before the House in October. These could include a further increase in member contribution rates, an increase in pension age, changes to the benefits payable on death, or a combination of all these measures.

Chris Mole: I regret to inform the House that some of the figures in the answer I gave to Parliamentary Question 285779 on 14 July 2009, Official Report, col. 210W, about the number and length (in miles) of those schemes on motorways in August 2009 for each Region in England were incorrect as different regional divisions within the Highways Agency had reported the figures based on different definitions. The Highways Agency has checked the figures and the corrected answer is below.
	
		
			 Region Total number of miles of motorway that will be subject to roadworks in August 2009 Approximate estimate of roadworks schemes taking place on the motorway in August 2009 
			 East 36 14 
			 East Midlands 30 1 
			 North West 276 174 
			 South East 306 169 
			 South West 35 15 
			 West Midlands 218 47 
			 Yorkshire and North East 136 65 
		
	
	The stated numbers of miles subject to roadworks are based on a carriageway length of motorway. Motorways generally comprise two carriageways (one in each direction) so each stated distance is the length of motorway measured in a single direction only. The figures do not include works involving only the closure of the motorway hard shoulder.
	The figures above include works involving a narrowing of the existing lanes to reduce the total width of carriageway open to live traffic, thereby allowing access to adjacent sections of carriageway. This type of restriction can allow works to be carried out while maintaining the existing number of traffic lanes open to traffic, thereby helping to minimise congestion caused by the roadworks. They also include closure of a lane completely to allow works access to the carriageway.